Gillibrand: debt deal not in our best interests
The US Senate passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling just hours before the deadline. The vote was 74-26, with New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand voting no.
Here’s her statement:
“I strongly believe America must reduce its debt and rein in federal spending. Earlier this week, I supported over $2 trillion in spending cuts without additional revenues, and last December I voted to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that are blowing a hole in the deficit. However, I do not believe this proposal is a fair, well thought out, or balanced deal for our fragile economy or the millions of middle class families struggling to make ends meet.
“The fact is, there is nothing in this deal that will address the significant jobs crisis we are facing. This deal, cut behind closed doors with zero transparency, is an unbalanced approach that cuts deeply into discretionary spending while being overwhelmingly stacked in favor of large corporations who exploit loopholes and the wealthiest among us. It is simply not in the best interests of the middle class and the larger economic recovery.
“I have not been in Washington long, but long enough to know it is broken. As I travel across New York, the people I meet are focused entirely on jobs and economic security for their families. Congress should take this charge as its own. I will continue to look for bipartisan ways to reduce the debt in a responsible way and create jobs in this struggling economy. The truth is, today we could have gone further in reducing America’s debt with a sensible compromise that both cut discretionary spending and raised revenues. It is unfortunate Congress missed that opportunity.”
President Obama signed the bill shortly after Senate approval.
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“Secondly, American voters tend to be nervous around radicals. The fact that the GOP’s right wing was apparently willing to court “economic chaos” in order to achieve its goals may give some voters real pause.”
This above from Brian’s post would have to indicate that this senators vote was very radical. She didn’t just toy with the idea of allowing the US to default she voted for it.
One could argue that—as Paul Krugman and Joe Nocera, among other economist/business writers have pointed out repeatedly–this bill is bad for the economy and will lead to a deepened recession, the same mistake FDR made toward what he thought was the tail end of the Great Depression. There is more than one way to bring economic chaos. The market dropped 266 points today; unemployment will get worse because of this bill and the reduced federal spending, and Obama is in trouble–as would be any incumbent president–when there is serious unemployment. The republicans may just have managed to ensure that that’s the case. I congratulate Gillibrand for her stand.
I don’t think any party should be celebrating. The Democrats lost. The Republicans lost, as did the Tea Party. The biggest losers as usual were the poor and the middle class.
Sorry but if you make over $250,000 you are not middle class.
Taxes do need to be raised, especially on those making more than $250,000. We must fix our infrastructure and doing this is the job of government. Fixing infrastructure will create jobs in the private sector.
Sounds like Kirstin was holding out for a tax increase.
“Mr. Market” didn’t like the bill, either. It cuts, what? $21 billion in 2012.
Why that’s almost 5 days of spending for a country that spends $4 billion every day. Woohoo! I’m with “Mr. Market”. We’re in trouble!
Kudos to Gillibrand to voting against a ridiculous job-killing debt deal. The Republicans’ admitted number one priority is to see that Obama has only one term. With this deal they may have succeeded – watch the jobless rate goe back over 10% just in time for the 2012 election and Obama is history.
The simple alternative was a straight vote to increase the debt ceiling, just like the Republicans voted for and approved every time during the Bush years.
of course jdm is right that the market reaction to the debt ceiling deal is negative, but i think he gets the why part of that backwards. markets want to see growth. this deal does the opposite. it takes spending out of the economy at a time when we need it most. austerity will contract the economy, not expand it. but don’t just take my word for it, here’s j. p. morgan:
just to be clear, that “fiscal drag” is referring to the expiration of some stimulus measures.
“Kudos to Gillibrand to voting against a ridiculous job-killing debt deal.”
myown, She and the Tea Party obviously preferred a default.
Paul, yes TP and anti-government types would have welcomed the chaos of a default and said so as a means to drastically reduce the size of the Federal government.
Gillibrand on the other hand never expressed any desire for default. Her alternative was a simple vote to raise the deb ceiling without any amendments. If the Obama/Republican debt deal had been voted down the backup would have been a quick clean vote to raise the debt ceiling.